interviews

Driving blood donation

Jon Latham, assistant director for blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, spoke to NHE about the ongoing drive to maintain blood stocks ahead of and during the Olympics.

Maintaining the necessary level of blood for use across the NHS is a difficult task at the best of times, with only 4% of the population registered as regular donors. But during large events, a time when every drop is vital, this can be severely disrupted.

Events don’t come much larger than the Olympics, and the Games will bring added challenges to the nation’s blood supply, with the risk of accidental injury and the need to cater for a more diverse range of blood types.

Assistant director for blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, Jon Latham, explained the focus of a new national campaign and how the organisation has learnt from previous events to be as prepared as possible for the Games.

30% target

The current campaign had been running for three months when NHE went to press, and aims to increase the normal levels of blood stock by around 30% ahead of the Olympics.

A large number of visitors are going to be coming into the country in the next month, with current estimates starting at 1.2 million people.

Latham said: “We’re trying to ensure that we’re in a position to cater to any demands that might come during that time. People from other countries have very different blood types than we do here; we have to cater to a large variation.

“We’re having to bolster some of our more vulnerable blood types to make sure we have the stock available if there are any issues during the Olympics. And rather than wait until that happens, we know from past experience that large sporting events have a negative effect on our ability to collect.”

An example of this is the 2006 World Cup, where stock dipped by around 20%. NHS BT is expecting people to be significantly distracted during the Olympics, making it more difficult to carry out regular donations.

A tailored approach

The campaign is going well, Latham said, although he admitted: “It’s tough. It’s not just flick a switch and away you go… it’s quite an effort both from a marketing point of view but also from a donor delivery perspective.”

The challenge is greater than that of simply increasing the total volume of blood available; it is creating the right mix and stock level of different variants of blood type, especially types that are uncommon in the UK.

Each big event requires a tailored approach, based on reactions to former campaigns. This time the aim is to build stable stocks over a period of time with particular blood types.

Latham explained: “It’s a different message, a different approach over a longer period of time. We’re not just looking to increase the amount of stock, we’re also trying to increase certain types of blood types.”

The long-term approach also means donations can be staggered, improving the experience without overloading resources.

“It’s not a case where you just bring loads of donors in and bring in the blood and put it in the fridge somewhere. Whole blood has a 35- day shelf life, we are stocking every month, having to turn it around. It is a real exercise of bringing people in at the right time at the right level, in the right numbers,” he added.

Appropriate use

In terms of what trusts can do to improve blood management, Latham suggested appropriate use of O- for the right patients. As the universal blood type, although only 7% of the population are O-, it can be used in transfusions for patients of any blood group. As a result, around 10% of all hospital procedures use O-.

The danger of such flexibility is that sometimes O- can be used as standard, rather than attempting to match the patient’s correct blood group, something Latham believes is the biggest challenge in blood demand.

He said: “It’s about the usage of that blood at hospitals and making sure it’s used at the right level, because there is a limit to how much we can go out and collect because of the numbers of the population who have that blood type.

“O- is one of the areas we have the greatest difficulties collecting.”

To manage the goal of a 30% rise in blood stocks, NHS BT has put in place more sessions and extended existing sessions in a staggered format to see as many donors as possible.

Latham commented: “It’s always difficult when you’ve got stock to build; there’s a pressure point of how many donors we can get going through the session. We’ve brought extra capacities in to try and help us achieve that and hopefully we will do it this year better than we’ve done it ever in the past.”

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